Lots of reasons actually, but a big one is the dynasty culture and how easy it is to assemble a winning team. Sign three star players and few good role players and you've got it. What's worse? The players love to comply. The top stars don't want to put in the time to build a team like the Celtics in the 80's or the Bulls in the 90's. They want to all play together so they can avoid having to really gel or perfect teamwork. They work around the myriad of measures that try to make all teams equal by demanding trades, refusing contracts, colluding with other star plays, and taking discounts to play for the richest teams. It stinks for everyone except the trendiest fans who enjoy things like "The Decision".

The 2013 Penguins are now a little too NBA for me. I'm not feeling sorry for the Bruins either -- I hope we get them in the playoffs. I still think the Bruins can beat them.

Because that's the great thing about the NHL. It is damn hard to win. You need 4 effective lines, six solid d-men, and a real good goalie. Dynasties rarely happen and slapping together a collection of all-stars rarely works. Unlike the NBA, players can't plan their championship rosters together and expect to cruise through the early playoff rounds. Iginla stiffed his former team by forcing them into a lesser return for his services, so that he could join a bunch of other superstars and they can all go to Stanley Cup summer camp together.

F**k em. I hope it doesn't work. This is the NHL. Stanley Cups should be brutally earned by the best team. I'd take Montreal over Pittsburgh. Down with the Pens.

i dont agree. Pitt went through many yrs of being bad. Most of their talent is home grown. They added key pieces bc they could. Kunitz and dupi are hardly house hold names. Thats who sid has.

i think pitt has the best overall organization in the league at the moment.

Two superstars down the middle, youth, some vets, young quality goalie, drafted lots of dmen. Pitt made all the right moves.

I believe all of this goes out the window in one week. I believe our team will be upgraded and we will be able to compete against them.

i see us as similar to pitt to be honest. Great city, great owner, great coach, home grown talent, smart trades, smart signings. I think this is great. pitt has the nod right now. I give them that. But i heard the same about vancouver. Pitt has added 3 very important pieces to the core of that group who won the cup.

PC will make us better.

We have 2 excellent lines. Our 3rd and 4th arent as good when we won. and my main concern is our backend. It needs a top 4 and a bottom pairing.

Nice post fletch and a good observation. I had the same thought when I got up this morning and saw what had transpired. I immediately thought of the Heat and Lakers and how much I hate that players dictate where they go even when they're not free agents in that league. We aren't there yet in the NHL and like you stated, it's much harder to win in the NHL. I despised the Pens before but I now have a whole new level of hate for them. I'm hoping their is a collision in practice between Cindy and Iggy and the both end up concussed and done for the season. Or maybe their bus can roll down an embankment....nah, that's too evil. Besides, the league would just award them the best player off the roster of each team in the league.

Bruins to use this Ignila debacle as a motivation rather than a let down.

Yes. I agree. I wanna be the underdog. And then when we play them. its on. Marchand can be as ratty as he wants. Lucic and horton can pop as many guys in the nose after the whistle as they want. I love that montreal is good. I love pitt is the consensus favorite. I love this.

i dont agree. Pitt went through many yrs of being bad. Most of their talent is home grown. They added key pieces bc they could. Kunitz and dupi are hardly house hold names. Thats who sid has.

i think pitt has the best overall organization in the league at the moment.

Two superstars down the middle, youth, some vets, young quality goalie, drafted lots of dmen. Pitt made all the right moves.

I believe all of this goes out the window in one week. I believe our team will be upgraded and we will be able to compete against them.

i see us as similar to pitt to be honest. Great city, great owner, great coach, home grown talent, smart trades, smart signings. I think this is great. pitt has the nod right now. I give them that. But i heard the same about vancouver. Pitt has added 3 very important pieces to the core of that group who won the cup.

PC will make us better.

We have 2 excellent lines. Our 3rd and 4th arent as good when we won. and my main concern is our backend. It needs a top 4 and a bottom pairing.

Shupe - what's that have to do with the subject of the OP? Fletch drew a comparison between what just happened with Iginla and Pitt to what happens regularly in the NBA. Your disagreeing with something else entirely. I don't think fletch said anything about Pitt not being a well-run organization. Just that he hopes this blows up on them.

Ray Shero picked the Penguins for the same reason Iginla did, the talent was/is already there. Number one draft pick after number one draft pick. I am still not sold on Fluery in the playoffs so I say let the chips fall where they land and after PC is done dealing play the playoff games.

"Built from the bottom, built from the bottom"

Is all I heard last year, The Rangers were going to waltz into the Stanley Cup finals and take it home. Did we see the devils coming ? NOPE! Still have to play the games even if you got two ol timers for nothing. Let NBC go down with their "Heat Dream" as well. Yah F**k em!

PS. Celtics still have more championships than the FAKERS! Sorry had to throw that in there.

i dont agree. Pitt went through many yrs of being bad. Most of their talent is home grown. They added key pieces bc they could. Kunitz and dupi are hardly house hold names. Thats who sid has.

i think pitt has the best overall organization in the league at the moment.

Two superstars down the middle, youth, some vets, young quality goalie, drafted lots of dmen. Pitt made all the right moves.

I believe all of this goes out the window in one week. I believe our team will be upgraded and we will be able to compete against them.

i see us as similar to pitt to be honest. Great city, great owner, great coach, home grown talent, smart trades, smart signings. I think this is great. pitt has the nod right now. I give them that. But i heard the same about vancouver. Pitt has added 3 very important pieces to the core of that group who won the cup.

PC will make us better.

We have 2 excellent lines. Our 3rd and 4th arent as good when we won. and my main concern is our backend. It needs a top 4 and a bottom pairing.

Shupe - what's that have to do with the subject of the OP? Fletch drew a comparison between what just happened with Iginla and Pitt to what happens regularly in the NBA. Your disagreeing with something else entirely. I don't think fletch said anything about Pitt not being a well-run organization. Just that he hopes this blows up on them.

Well isnt he questioning their motives of stacking a team like the NBA. Im drawing a comparsion of how similar our teams were built. They had many lean yrs before they drafted 1st many yrs in a row. This isnt a miami heat situation. they didnt add sid and malkin. They already have them. They added a few key pieces of the puzzle.

I dont see pitt as ths evil empire. They did it the hard way in drafting, were smart and aggressive at the deadline. I give them props.

Ray Shero picked the Penguins for the same reason Iginla did, the talent was/is already there. Number one draft pick after number one draft pick. I am still not sold on Fluery in the playoffs so I say let the chips fall where they land and after PC is done dealing play the playoff games.

"Built from the bottom, built from the bottom"

Is all I heard last year, The Rangers were going to waltz into the Stanley Cup finals and take it home. Did we see the devils coming ? NOPE! Still have to play the games even if you got two ol timers for nothing. Let NBC go down with their "Heat Dream" as well. Yah F**k em!

PS. Celtics still have more championships than the FAKERS! Sorry had to throw that in there.

I would rather the proven Fleury right now. Rask needs to win. Playoff wise he us unproven. That being said i wouldmt trust Fleury either.

I hope we play pitt and montreal in the playoffs. So much entertainment.

Fluery was good enough to help Pittsburgh win the 2009 Stanley Cup. Now go look at the performances of Marc-Andre the next 3 years in the post season. Tuukka as a rookie outduled Miller in 2010, without Rask Bruins don't get out of that round. The Bruins offense couldn't score one more goal in game 7 or game 4 against Philly, that is not Rasks fault.

Well isnt he questioning their motives of stacking a team like the NBA. Im drawing a comparsion of how similar our teams were built. They had many lean yrs before they drafted 1st many yrs in a row. This isnt a miami heat situation. they didnt add sid and malkin. They already have them. They added a few key pieces of the puzzle.

I dont see pitt as ths evil empire. They did it the hard way in drafting, were smart and aggressive at the deadline. I give them props.

[/QUOTE]

No, they're not the evil empire. They are however the dynasty of kvetch. I've hated them for tanking to get better draft position, most notably when they ended up getting Lemieux. Then the culture of whining and crying has become a tradition both on the ice and in the front office which started with crybaby mario the hypocrite and continues with cindy today.

And I disagree on your camparison that Boston and Pitt are both great cities....Pitt is a slag heap compared to Boston. I do admit it's better than it was 30 years ago but it's still meh.

i dont agree. Pitt went through many yrs of being bad. Most of their talent is home grown. They added key pieces bc they could. Kunitz and dupi are hardly house hold names. Thats who sid has.

i think pitt has the best overall organization in the league at the moment.

Two superstars down the middle, youth, some vets, young quality goalie, drafted lots of dmen. Pitt made all the right moves.

I believe all of this goes out the window in one week. I believe our team will be upgraded and we will be able to compete against them.

i see us as similar to pitt to be honest. Great city, great owner, great coach, home grown talent, smart trades, smart signings. I think this is great. pitt has the nod right now. I give them that. But i heard the same about vancouver. Pitt has added 3 very important pieces to the core of that group who won the cup.

PC will make us better.

We have 2 excellent lines. Our 3rd and 4th arent as good when we won. and my main concern is our backend. It needs a top 4 and a bottom pairing.

shupe, I'm not blaming Pittsburgh at all for being good. I don't mind the dynasty collection of talent through the system. Pittsburgh's core was built the right way -- Crosby, Fleury, Malkin, Letang, etc. What's annoying is that now that they have a veritable all-star team, the big ticket free agents are all following in line to jump on the Cup bandwagon. I don't even blame the franchise or the GM. The Pens should go for it and they have.

I just hate the all-star teams getting all the best trade deadline players too, and I hate it even more when it works for them (NBA). So I want Pittsburgh to lose, less as a personal grudge, but more for the dignity of the NHL where great team execution can often beat the all-star team of gaudy stars. Not indicting Pittsburgh at all, just a personal perference here.

i dont agree. Pitt went through many yrs of being bad. Most of their talent is home grown. They added key pieces bc they could. Kunitz and dupi are hardly house hold names. Thats who sid has.

i think pitt has the best overall organization in the league at the moment.

Two superstars down the middle, youth, some vets, young quality goalie, drafted lots of dmen. Pitt made all the right moves.

I believe all of this goes out the window in one week. I believe our team will be upgraded and we will be able to compete against them.

i see us as similar to pitt to be honest. Great city, great owner, great coach, home grown talent, smart trades, smart signings. I think this is great. pitt has the nod right now. I give them that. But i heard the same about vancouver. Pitt has added 3 very important pieces to the core of that group who won the cup.

PC will make us better.

We have 2 excellent lines. Our 3rd and 4th arent as good when we won. and my main concern is our backend. It needs a top 4 and a bottom pairing.

Shupe - what's that have to do with the subject of the OP? Fletch drew a comparison between what just happened with Iginla and Pitt to what happens regularly in the NBA. Your disagreeing with something else entirely. I don't think fletch said anything about Pitt not being a well-run organization. Just that he hopes this blows up on them.

I agree the NBA is the worst sport for knowing who is going to win a series 90% of the time. In almost every other team sport a team game has a chance to neutralize the stars. In basketball there is really no way to stop a team like the Miami Heat over a 7 game series. Hockey is the best. Look at what the Bruins just did to the Pens by playing great team defense and having a great goalie. Of course the Bruins have pretty good talent in their line-up as well.

i hate the sport of Basketball nevermind just the NBA. no goaltending allowed, no contact, consant whistles, its just sooo lame. in Hockey you score a goal in basketball you make baskets....case closed